Cryptocurrency mining can become an important supporter of the ecological transition. After years of being in the sights for excessive water consumption, energy and its impact on greenhouse emissions, The Bitcoin Energy European Association suggests that in the coming years, digital currencies could be composed of wind and solar energy. Sources that, although they do not emit greenhouse gases, have a problem: they are intermittent because they depend on the weather.
Thus, in times of sun and wind, the production of the plants based on these renewable sources is maximum, but it is canceled if the conditions fail: the sky clouds, the sun is put on, or the wind stops blowing. As a result, at certain times of the day and year there will be an excess of electric production and in others there will be a deficit; Part of this surplus will be stored in batteries to be consumed later, but another part, it will have to be removed to avoid overloading the network.
The greatest inconvenience of this intermittent generation is that electricity prices can be bitten when production exceeds demand. However, wind and photovoltaic parks are also remunerated when prices reach zero or are negative, otherwise the economic incentive would be lost to install new renewable infrastructure. This happened in Denmark with the auctions of marine wind, which did not receive offers precisely due to the lack of these guarantees.
How renewable is a crypto farm?
In addition to needing water for machine cooling systemsthat otherwise they would overheat, The so -called “Cryptodiviss Farms” consume a lot of electricity due to the calculation power necessary to solve cryptographic problems. Consequently, if the energy to feed or ventilate computers comes from fossil sources, the emissions associated with mining make it an obstacle to the climate.
However, it is not uncommon for cryptocurrency farms depending on hydroelectric plants, which provide clean, abundant and cheap energy. This last feature is crucial for “miners”, since the price of electricity represents the main operational cost of its facilities. You are always looking for large amounts of energy at the lowest possible price.
In December, Mara Holdings, one of the world’s largest Bitcoins mining companies, acquired a wind farm in Texas; The intention was to use it to feed their mining processes, which will begin and stop depending on the presence of wind. In the case of Mara, the plant is disconnected from the network. Bitcoin Energy seeks to take advantage of the flexibility of mining to favor the integration of renewables into the electricity market and reinforce the stability of the infrastructure. Thus, cryptocurrency farms will modulate their activity to take advantage of wind and solar production peaks, at minimum prices, “disconnecting” when the availability is low and the demand for electricity rises. In this way, the electricity of the renewable parks is not wasted, the operators increase the profitability of their investment and the pressure on the network is reduced at times of greater demand.
Eduardo Ospina is the creator of Unergy, a platform to invest in solar energy projects through a token, whose processing does not impact the environment.
Bitcoin Energy’s idea could work
“All activities that need a more or less continuous supply of electricity, and that have the obligation or interest of guaranteeing their low carbon origin, are an important counterpart to the development projects of ‘Green Technologies’,” he explains to Wired Carlo Stagnaro, Director of Research and Studies of the Think Tank Italian Bruno Leoni Institute. However, he adds that this type of association requires a long -term commitment, of at least five or ten years, such is the case of many industrial settlements or data centers: “Although I am not sure that mining can guarantee this Type of commitment, since it is a very volatile business and can create tensions in the demand for electricity. “
Article published in Wired Italy. Adapted by Alondra Flores.
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